MUSIC Cellar Door @ Green Room

Clearly relishing their unpredictable nature, the band’s new material moves away from Western-esque shoot ‘em up into an altogether darker space

By Claire Dupree
on Monday, February 13th, 2017

Image by John Kirkbride

Teesside’s post-punk quintet Cellar Door are gearing up to unleash a new single this month, alongside a gig at Stockton’s Green Room on Saturday 18th February to debut new material.

Cellar Door are adept at crafting unique concepts for their music; 2014’s Discordia EP was a concept release of sorts, written as a soundtrack to a short story by guitarist Craig. Full of soundscapes that’d make Morricone proud, the band produced a unique and singular vision which was wholly impressive. Clearly relishing their unpredictable nature, the band’s new material moves away from Western-esque shoot ‘em up into an altogether darker space.

New single War Paint contains riff-heavy grinding guitars, some impressive vocals and a dynamic rhythm which is halted only by the shouted echo of the chorus. It’s an unsettling track, backed by an even more off-kilter video by John Kirkbride (whose previous work has included videos for Teesside stalwarts Cattle & Cane and Weird Shapes). B-side Fugue takes up where War Paint left off, as a chugging guitar line keeps the track grounded while the paranoid vocals are accented by punishing drums and a pleasingly abrupt closure.

It’s an impressive return, and we can’t wait to see what they’ll do next.